Philips GoGear Vibe

Reviews: Portable Audio and Video Players

Although Philips isn't necessarily the first manufacturer that springs to mind when you're looking to buy a new MP3 player, the brand does have a good selection of products on offer, including the super-small GoGear Vibe. Philips has always had some serious design and handling issues. GoGears have long been plagued with buttons hidden away on various outer edges, buttons assigned nonsensical functions, and a design that makes pressing the right key something of a challenge ... let's just say Philips needed to make some serious improvements in the field. Unfortunately, though, these improvements haven't been made in the Vibe. Although the Play/Pause key has made its way back into the middle of the control panel and is finally separated from the other buttons, navigation is still somewhat baffling. The GoGear Vibe has a colour screen with an unusual square format. Although it certainly looks nice, it seems like a bit of a strange choice. The square format is ideal for displaying album covers, although to be honest, none of us really spend that much time looking at them. It is, however rather difficult to read and we found ourselves setting the brightness level to maximum to help stop us squinting at the menus.